Canny North folk are charging up to £32,500 for a seven-day stay in their house as they take advantage of their home city hosting one of English sport's most prestigious events.

The Royal Ascot race meeting is to be held in York next summer as the southern horse racing track will be closed for refurbishment.

And that means tens of thousands of visitors will flood into the city, desperate for accommodation close to the Knavesmire track.

Businessman Tony Stanley is just one of thousands of homeowners who have already registered with an estate agent. He is offering his five-bedroomed detached house in Woodthorpe - just a mile from the racecourse - for £5000 for the week.

The dad-of-two said: "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"We are seeing this money as a bonus, money that we wouldn't ordinarily have had, so we're going to blow it all on a family holiday to Barbados.

"York is going to be absolute bedlam during Ascot anyway so we'll be killing two birds with one stone . . . escaping the city and having a fantastic holiday which will be paid for.

"We'd be mad not to take advantage of this. If you break the cost down between four couples it's only the price of a hotel room for a week anyway."

Website Ascotlets.com was set up specifically to organise the house lets, and more than 260 homeowners have already registered their properties, which range from a stately home priced at a whopping £32,500 to flats for £1500.

Sales and marketing manager Tony O'Donnell said: "People renting their houses out happens at Wimbledon and major golfing events, but York has never hosted anything on this scale.

"We are expecting over 50,000 people in the city during Ascot and there are only 12,000 hotel rooms . . . there's going to be a massive overflow.

"Some people are offering a bed and breakfast service, where they are renting out so many rooms in the house, and some, further out of the city, are offering a service where they drive people to and from the racecourse too.

"It's a very good money- spinner for anyone who has a property to rent out."

Salesman Spencer Martin owns a two-bedroom terraced house half a mile from the racecourse at York, which he plans to rent out during Ascot.

The 30-year-old, who lives with his girlfriend, said: "We got a flyer through the door and it seems like too good an opportunity to turn down.

"You'd get a minimum of a grand for the week.

"We'll move in with relatives and then spend the money on our summer holiday."